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Microscopic algae may soon make large-scale biofuel production cheap and efficient.

Just add water.

Sunshine and carbon dioxide help too. However, Oregon State University researchers say that’s all you need (theoretically) to turn tiny life forms that have been around since dinosaurs into a powerful source of fuel.

These life forms, called diatoms, are already used to make semiconductor materials and biomedical products — not mention the glucosamine found in health foods.

鈥淲e believe that we can produce all of these products in one facility at the same time and move easily from one product to the other,鈥� said OSU professor Greg Rorrer, the head of the School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering.

Rorrer said researchers’ work sounds like science fiction at this point, but they have $2 million from the National Science Foundation to make it a day-to-day reality.

鈥淭his NSF program is intended to support long-range concepts for a sustainable future, but in fact we’re demonstrating much of the science behind these technologies right now,鈥� Rorrer said.

Scientists can already make biofuel from algae, but the process is expensive and complicated, and the end result competes poorly with other biofuels.

But OSU scientists are working with diatoms. Diatoms have been around since the Jurassic Period, but scientists are just now learning the secrets of what Rorrer calls a “natural nanotechnology factory.

鈥淩egular algae don’t make everything that diatoms can make,鈥� he explained. 鈥淭his is the only organism we know of that can create organized structures at the nano level and naturally produce such high-value products. With the right components, they will make what you want them to make.鈥�